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I Reprint from the Proceedings. | 



STANDARDIZATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 



Address delivered by B. K. Purdum, Assistant State Superintendent of 

Education of Maryland, before the High School Section 

of the Maryland State Teachers' Association 

June 29, 1910. 



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MR. PURDUM'S ADDRESS. 

STANDARDIZATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 

If I approach any part of my subject with the degree of complete- 
ness at which I aim, I shall be obliged to go over much information 
that is already familiar to many or all of you. On this I ask your 
forbearance. 

In our great system of American education — if it can be called a 
system — there are many contributing factors that have not, as yet 
found themselves. Some of them may be said to belong anywhere, 
rather than somewhere. There is much duplication or overlapping 
and conflict. I believe that, as time goes on, there will be an adjust- 
ment. Some institutions will pass away, others will change, and 
those that survive will find their places. 

So far the American high school has not found its place. Its func- 
tion is much more definite now, than it has ever been, but' still the 
adjustment is not, by any means, complete. We find many high, or 
secondary, schools doing elementary work and a few attempting col- 
lege work. It is much more common, however, for the institutions 
bearing the name of colleges to lap back on the high school field, 
but for this the high school must bear the blame rather than the 
college. 

To fix definitely the place of the high school in the long road lead- 
ing from the bottom of the elementary school to the top of the uni- 
versity, and to so arrange it that it will perform its full function in 
that position, is, of course, the largest problem that confronts you. 

It is not desirable that there should be uniformity in the kind of 
subject-matter covered in the high school, but all students permitted 
to graduate should possess a standard amount of actual power and 
efficiency, even though it may manifest itself in varied activities. 

If the exclusive business of the high school were to fit its students 
for entrance to a college or higher technical school, we should say, 
perhaps, that it should cover four full years of work, following an 
elementary course of eight years. This still may be its proper place, 
even though very different demands are made upon the high school 
by the taxpaying public from whom it gets its support, and who 
should be first considered in the rendition of returns. 

The secondary schools, which include academies and preparatory 
schools as well as high schools, vary greatly in the amount and 
quality of actual work accomplished; it would, therefore, be a matter 
of much convenience to those who have to deal with the results in 
this group of schools, to agree on some measure that can be used in 
determining the amount of work done in any individual secondary 



school, and also the quantity of work, in terms of this measure, that 
should constitute a reasonable standard requirement. 

At one time the various academies and high schools were individual 
in their organization, and no one thought of any reason for similarity 
in their curricula. The preparatory schools were even more indi- 
vidual, and arranged their courses each to fit the entrance require- 
ments of some one college or university, for which it exclusively pre- 
pared students. 

A need for similarity in college entrance requirements, as well as 
some uniformity in the curricula of the secondary school became 
apparent. 

The first move made in this direction, was in December, 1879, when 
representatives from the leading New England colleges met at Hart- 
ford, Connecticut. They did little more than compare their several 
catalogues with regard to their stated requirements for entrance. 
Lists of questions that had been used in matriculation examinations 
were given some attention. A later conference resulted in the adop- 
tion, by all of the New England colleges except Yale, of uniform 
requirements in English. During the next three years all the New 
England colleges had agreed on uniform requirements in mathe- 
matics and the classics. In 1884, the Massachusetts High School 
Teachers' Association voted to propose a conference with the New 
England colleges. This conference resulted in the organization of the 
New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools, the 
first organization of its kind in this country. This Association now 
has a membership of about 40 colleges and many more secondary 
schools. Its territorial limits are those indicated by its name. 

The colleges of the State of Pennsylvania were next to take definite 
steps toward uniform standards, and in 1887, representatives from 
fifteen of them met at Franklin and Marshall, Lancaster, and effected 
an organization. The colleges are not slow to see that the effective- 
ness of the standards fixed depends more on the secondary schools 
than the colleges themselves. Consequently, the next year saw the 
territorial limits of this Pennsylvania Association extended to all of 
the Middle States and Maryland, and the secondary schools of this 
territory invited to join. 

The name was changed to the Association of Colleges and Pre- 
paratory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland, and thus a 
second great organization, working for uniform standards, was 
launched. Its' membership now consists of about seventy colleges., in 
addition to a much larger number of secondary schools. 

The years 1892 and 1895 sa w, respectively, the formation of the 
North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and 
the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Southern 
States. Both of these associations make rather rigid requirements 



a condition of membership, but have enrolled all of the better educa- 
tional institutions in their jurisdictions. 

With practically the entire country covered by these major asso- 
ciations, and a number of State and special school associations, all 
working toward the adoption and maintenance of desirable uniform 
standards, we have an equipment that, with the aid of the National 
Conference Committee, and the Carnegie Foundation, can keep this 
problem at least in sight of the ever shifting demands made on our 
American System of Education. 

Before speaking of movements for uniformity that are national in 
character, I must not fail to mention the work of the College Entrance 
Examination Board and the New England College Entrance Certifi- 
cate Board. The former was organized in 1900, and operates mostly 
in the territory of the Association of Colleges and Preparatory 
Schools of the Middle States and Maryland, although it extends out- 
side in several directions. It admits representatives only of high 
schools of good grade, offering four-year courses, and colleges main- 
taining such standards for entrance. It publishes, from time to time, 
an outline of what should constitute the work of secondary schools 
and holds annual examinations in more than a hundred cities, issuing 
credits to those taking these examinations, which are in turn accepted 
for their face value, when presented to the colleges belonging to the 
Board. 

The New England College Entrance Certificate Board does much 
the same work in its territory, but it bases its certificates largely on 
the credentials of its applicants, instead of on examination. This 
necessitates its putting a rating on all secondary schools in its bounds. 

The organizations so far referred to, have not acted without knowl- 
edge of what their sister organizations were doing, but still their work 
has been local in character, and the individual influence of each is 
not, in any sense, national. From the beginning, the scattered efforts 
of these sectional agencies have been preparing the way for national 
standards. 

The first move in this direction, was the appointment, by the Na- 
tional Education Association in 1892, of the Committee of Ten for 
the formulation of plans for a greater degree of uniformity in 
entrance requirements. The committee devoted much of its attention 
to the courses of secondary schools, and its report served as a great 
stimulus to the cause of uniformity. One of the main conclusions of 
the committee was that the colleges should adapt their entrance 
requirements to secondary schools, after they had been put on a 
proper educational basis. It was the opinion of the committee that 
uniform college entrance requirements would follow as a natural 
result of uniform standards in the secondary schools. 

Another committee was appointed in 1895 to still further investi- 
gate this subject. The report of this committee will be found in full 



in the 1899 Proceedings of the National Education Association, page 
632. Its findings were expressed in fourteen resolutions, of which 
President Pritchett, of the Carnegie Foundation, says: "These reso- 
lutions furnish a feasible means of securing uniformity as well as 
elasticity in requirements. The report was the first step, national in 
character, towards bringing the high schools and colleges throughout 
the country into harmonious co-operation." 

In 1905, Mr. Andrew Carnegie set aside ten million dollars of 5% 
securities (which has since been increased), appointed a board of 
trustees, which was constituted into a self perpetuating corporation, 
to be known as the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of 
Teaching. This enormous income was to be used mainly in the 
retirement of professors of colleges and universities of good stand- 
ing. The standing of these institutions can be best judged and rated 
on the basis of their entrance requirements actually enforced — I say 
actually enforced to distinguish them from those requirements stated 
in catalogues and not enforced — since the jurisdiction of the Founda- 
tion was made national, it was forced to meet the problem of national 
standardization. The Foundation has met this problem. 

The United States Commissioner of Education said recently, in 
speaking on this subject, that the Carnegie Foundation, because of 
its ability to give or withhold valuable grants, and its declaration 
that these grants will be made only to institutions of a certain grade, 
and further, because of adequate provision in the office of the Founda- 
tion for investigation of all institutions applying for such grants, this 
establishment has become one of the most powerful agencies for 
clearing up and unifying our standards in higher education. It is 
doubtful whether all of the agencies working directly to this end, 
taken together, have thus far accomplished so much in the fixing of 
a standard of secondary and collegiate education. 

One of the first acts of the Foundation along this line, was to pro- 
pose a measure in terms of which the work of secondary schools and 
the college entrance requirements could be rated. This measure was 
called "The Unit," and will be defined later. 

The desire, on the part of the several associations, that the ques- 
tion of standards should be considered in a national, rather than a 
sectional way, resulted in the formation, in 1906, of the National Con- 
ference Committee on Standards of Colleges and Secondary Schools. 
The committee is composed of delegates from the four major associa- 
tions of colleges and preparatory schools, the two college entrance 
boards, the Association of State Universities, the Carnegie Founda- 
tion, and the United States Commissioner of Education. 

This committee meets annually, and is doing much effective work. 
It has adopted the Carnegie unit as that of the conference. 

You will doubtless recall that, near the beginning of this paper, I 
stated that it would be a matter of convenience to those who have 



to deal with results in secondary schools, to agree on some measure 
that could be used in determining the amount of work done in any 
secondary school, and also the quantity of work, in terms of this 
measure, that should constitute a reasonable standard requirement. 

Several terms have been employed for this purpose. The Board of 
Regents of the State of New York adopted the "Count," which repre- 
sents satisfactory work in a subject, one hour per week for a school 
year. You will see that, on the basis of this measure, a student hav- 
ing five one-hour recitations per week in a particular subject, could 
get a credit of five "Counts" for a year's work in that subject. Twenty 
"Counts" is considered a standard year's work, and a minimum of 
seventy-five for graduation, or entrance to a New York College. 

Another term that has been used to some extent, is the "Point." 
This represents satisfactory work for a semester, or half year, in a 
subject important enough to be given four or five times a week. A 
full year's work would, consequently, equal two "Points." Eight 
"Points" would constitute a year's work, and a minimum of thirty 
"Points" for graduation or college entrance. 

The measure proposed by the Carnegie Foundation, and previously re- 
ferred to, is known as the "Unit" which represents a year's study in any 
subject in a secondary school, constituting approximately, a quarter of a 
full year's work. 

"This statement is designated to afford a standard of measurement 
for the work done in a secondary school. It takes the four-year 
high school course as a basis, and assumes that the length of the 
school year is from thirty-six to forty weeks, that a period is from 
forty to sixty minutes in length, and that the study is pursued for 
four or five periods a week; but, under ordinary circumstances, a 
satisfactory year's work in any subject cannot be accomplished in 
less than one hundred and twenty, sixty-minute hours or equivalents. 
Schools organized on any other than a four-year basis can, neverthe- 
less, estimate their work in terms of this unit." 

A number of the organizations mentioned in this paper have already 
abandoned other terms, and adopted this, which is now popularly 
known as the Carnegie "Unit." 

I think that we will be safe in forecasting that not many more 
years will pas.s before we will have, in general use, a national stand- 
ard of measure, and that it will be the- Carnegie "Unit." 

If we wished to reduce values stated in the "Count" or "Point" to 
the denomination of "Units," it would not be so difficult as at first 
may appear. 

The "Count" may be stated as the hour-week-year; the "Point" as 
the 5 hour-week-semester; and the "Unit" as the 4 or 5-40 to 60 
minute hour-36 to 40 week-year. Consequently 1 unit would equal 
approximate!)' 2 points or 5 counts. 



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It will be readily seen that the "Unit" is a much more elastic meas- 
ure and a certain amount of elasticity is desirable. 

To illustrate more definitely the application of the "Unit" we will 
use plane geometry. This subject is considered of sufficient impor- 
tance to consume four or five periods of the high school course for 
one year and if so given should receive a credit of i unit. If it were 
given for two periods a week for one year, it would receive a credit 
of % unit, but if on the other hand plane geometry were given four 
or five times a week for two years, it would still receive credit for 
only i "Unit," the assumption being that undue time had been devoted 
to a subject of that degree of importance. 

The relative value placed on the various high school branches in 
terms of the unit is shown by the following outline published by the 
College Entrance Examination Board, accepted by the Carnegie 
Foundation and generally by the Colleges of the different associa- 
tions: 

English: 

(a) Reading and Practice 2 units 

(b) Study and Practice 1 unit 

History: 

(a) Ancient 1 

(b) Mediaeval and Modern 1 

(c) English 1 * 

(d) American and Civil Government 1 

Latin: 

(a) Grammar and Composition 1 

(b) Caesar, Cicero, Virgil and works of various authors 

aggregating 6Y2 units 

Greek 4 

French 4 

German • • 4 

Spanish 2 

Algebra 2 

Plane Geometry 1 unit 

Solid " % " 

Trigonometry 1 

Physics 1 

Chemistry 1 

B otany .' 1 " 

Geography 1 

Zoology 1 

Drawing 1 

Music 3 "nits 

Total 42 



Sixteen of this total of 42 units of work is considered standard 
requirement for graduation from a high school. It is not expected 
that any one high school will offer the full 42 units from which the 
student may elect 16 units. In the case of the small high school, it 
would be extravagant as well as ill advised for other reasons. 

Even though most States require 16 units for graduation from 
their highest grade high schools, most of the colleges in order to 
allow a little margin betwen the high school and college require only 
14 or 15 units for entrance. It is the practice of many colleges to 
specify what subjects shall go to make up the greater part of their 
required units. Dickinson College, of its 14 required units, specifies 
what all shall be, New York University specifies 14.5 of 15.5 required, 
while on the other hand Leland Stanford requires 15 units and speci- 
fies only 3, and Clark University requires 14 units and specifies none. 
The tendency seems to be toward a reduction in the number of speci- 
fied units. 

It appears that the unit of measure agreed upon is the best for 
the purpose, and the quantity of work in terms of that unit expected 
of the high school student in a four-year course is neither too much 
nor too little, but the various subjects for which credit is at present 
given and the amount of credit given to each will change. There is 
no doubt but that the Carnegie Foundation has made a sincere effort 
to adjust the recognition to the demand but the demand considered 
in this adjustment seems to have been that of the colleges themselves. 

On account of our great industrial development and the ever 
increasing cry, on the part of those who support our public schools, 
for more and more of the vocational subjects in the curriculum, we 
will be forced to give credit for high school graduation to a number 
of subjects to which no credit is given in the outline previously read. 

In support of this view, I wish to call your attention to the action, 
May 7, 1910, of the High School Teachers' Association of the City 
of New York. On the recommendation of a committee on the Articu- 
lation of High School and College, the following statement was 
addressed to the Colleges of the State: 

"We believe that the interests of the forty thousand boys and girls 
who annually attend the nineteen high schools of this city cannot be 
wisely and fully served under the present college entrance require- 
ments. Our experience seems to prove the existence of a wide dis- 
crepancy between "preparation for life" and "preparation for college" 
as defined by college entrance requirements. 

"So long as this discrepancy exists, both the child and society 
suffer, for the following two reasons: 

"First: — Every attempt to divide high school students into two 
classes and to prepare one class for college and the other for life is 
unsatisfactory. Many of those being "prepared for college" drop out 
of school without proper education for citizenship and without the 



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industrial or commercial efficiency which society rightly demands the 
tax-supported high school should develop. Those being "prepared 
for life" include many who, later in their course, would go to college 
if the work already done were recognized by the colleges. 

"Second: — The attempt to prepare the student for college under 
the present requirements and at the same time to teach him such 
other subjects as are needed for life is unsatisfactory. Under these 
conditions the student often has too much to do. The quality of all 
his work is likely to suffer. The additional subjects are slighted 
because they do not count for admission to college. In such a course 
it is impossible for the student to give these subjects as much time 
and energy as social conditions demand. 

"For these reasons we desire to call your attention to the entrance 
requirements of Clark College. This college accepts the graduates 
of any New England public high school or of any other high school 
with equivalent standard. They report that the results are satisfac- 
tory to the college. May we ask what, in your opinion, would be the 
objections, if any, to the acceptance by your college of the grad- 
uates of the high schools of New York City? Such a definition of 
entrance requirements would secure to the college a four-years' 
preparatory course and would enable the high school to perform its 
function as a tax-supported institution. Under the present method 
of defining entrance requirements, students who have not completed 
our course of study repeatedly gain admission to college, often to the 
weakening of both college and high school. 

"If this departure seems too radical, may we call your attention to 
the following statements and recommend the modifications in present 
entrance requirements which seem to us most urgent? There are 
seven distinct lines of work which we believe essential to a well- 
rounded high school course; to-wit, language, mathematics, history 
and civics, science, music, drawing, and manual training. Girls must 
be taught household science and art. Moreover, we believe that the 
twentieth century demands that the high schools should not cast 
all students in the same mold; that the amount of science and manual 
training which is sufficient for one student is utterly inadequate for 
another; and that a training for business may be given in the high 
school which will be as cultural and as respectable as any other 
course. To enable the high schools to adapt secondary education to 
the varying needs of different students in such a manner as to meet 
the diverse demands of the professions, of industr}', and of com- 
merce, progress seems to us to require, 

(a) the reduction in the number of so-called "required" subjects, 

together with 

(b) the recognition of all standard subjects, as electives. 



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"The specified entrance requirements of two foreign languages, the 
meager electives in science, and the absence of recognition for draw- 
ing, music, household science and art, shopwork, commercial branches, 
and civics and economics, constitute the chief difficulty. 

"We should like to see if possible for a student upon entering the 
high school to choose Latin or German or French; to confine his 
work in foreign language, during his high school course, to one such 
language in case the remainder of his time is required for other sub- 
jects; and to find at the end of his high school course that he has met 
the foreign language requirements of whatever college he may choose 
to enter. We should like to see no discrimination against Latin for 
the course leading to the B. S. degree, so that students choosing any 
language may enter the B. S. course. 

"We should like to see the following subjects recognized by col- 
lege entrance credits: 

"Music, i unit; mechanical and freehand drawing, each % to I unit; 
joinery, pattern making, forging, machine shop practice, each % to I 
unit; household chemistry, botany, zoology, physiography, applied 
physics, and advanced chemistry, each i unit; modern history, i unit; 
civics and economics, each % to i unit; household science and art, 2 
units; and commercial geography, commercial law, stenography and 
typewriting, elementary bookkeeping, advanced bookkeeping and 
accounting, each % to 1 unit. 

"A recent study of entrance requirements show that many col- 
leges are already requiring only one foreign language for admission, 
and that many of the above subjects have received recognition. 

You will notice that this bespeaks the demands of a great commer- 
cial and manufacturing center with its many perplexing social prob- 
lems awaiting solution. They have naturally overlooked the demands 
of the rural sections. If we add to their list of vocational subjects 
for which they ask recognition, the various branches related to agri- 
culture, that are so rapidly finding their way into our high schools, 
we will have the present situation fairly well covered. 

These changes and even more will come, I believe, but we must 
be patient as permanent growth must needs be slow. 

The substitution of the living modern languages of trade and com- 
merce for part or all of "The language they used to speak in Rome 
or one supposed to be something like it," as one of our Baltimore 
papers put it in a recent editorial may shock some, but we must be 
only guided by tradition, and not bound by it. 



LIBRARY OF. CONGRESS 

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I think the following lines by Eugene C. Dolson somewhat to the 
point: 

The past recedes: men walk no more 

Fettered to thoughts of ages gone — 
The future hath its meed in store, 

And action rushes on. 

Fronting the real in swift advance 
From stage to stage the world has sped— 

The dream, the. glamor, the romance 
Of buried years are dead. 

June 29, 1910. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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